How to Make Hugelkultur Raised Beds

James White The technique of making Hugelkultur raised beds has been in practice for probably thousands of years, though lately it’s becoming increasingly popular. Hugelkultur beds are created by putting compost or soil on top of rotting wood and using the small hill to plant.

Many fellow gardeners seemed to have an endless list of good things to say about these raised beds. So after hearing about the harvests other gardens were putting out, I decided it was time to test this method and see if it lived up to the hype.

hugelkulter bed | courtesy RichSoil.com

Image by Rich Soil

Benefits of Hugelkultur Gardens

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You can grow a typical garden without irrigation or fertilization.

No need to till once your garden is built.

This type of gardening works in a variety of environments, even the desert.

Improves the fertility of your soil.

Uses rotting wood that would otherwise be discarded, making it perfect for trees knocked down in storms.

Makes food more flavorful, especially fruit. Tomatoes and berries will be even more delicious.

Improves drainage.

Now that you know the benefits of this gardening system, let’s move into the labor part – actually building your raised beds. While it might seem like a hassle to put these gardens together, once they’re built they’re so low maintenance, it pays off in the long run.

How to Make Hugelkultur Beds

Gather wood. Ideal woods are things like maple, poplar, dry willow, birch, oak or cottonwood. Avoid wood such as black walnut, which is toxic to plants, or cedar which is full of natural herbicides and is antifungal/microbial. Hardwoods break down more slowly and will sustain your garden bed for longer.

Pick the site for your garden. If you’re growing vegetables, you want a spot that gets plenty of sun.

Mow the grass in your garden site; there’s no need to till, though.

Pile up your wood. You can choose whatever shape you want. You can start small and then add more later, or keep it small if you want – but I’d recommend a larger garden bed. If you plan to go really big, consider renting equipment to make the work easier.

If you want to have edges, you can build a border to define the bed. Use stones, logs or boards.

Cover your log wood base with whatever organic material you have. Compost, straw, soil and grass clippings are all good. Put nitrogen-rich things like fresh grass clippings nearest to the wood, to help it get started breaking down.

As the bed settles over time, the wood will break down, so add compost to the bed whenever you plant in the years to come. The wood acts like a sponge, retaining water. It may not be necessary to water your raised bed after the first year, unless there’s a long drought.

In a first-year Hugelkultur garden, you want to plant things like potatoes, tomatoes, beans, lettuces or berry bushes. Avoid planting squash, broccoli or corn your first year, since these plants have a high nitrogen demand. Unless there’s a large amount of organic matter on top of the wood, the breakdown of the wood the first year is very demanding on the nitrogen in the surrounding environment, so it’s necessary to add nitrogen, plant things that have a low nitrogen requirement, or use plants that add nitrogen to the soil.

The gradually decaying wood provides nutrients for the soil and plants, and the composting process produces a slight heat that leads to a longer growing season.

Thriving for Years to Come

While the initial startup can be more labor intensive than a traditional garden, my hugel bed will be growing for the next 20 years. The hardwoods used as the base of my garden will provide nutrients and moisture for decades, while the soil around it grows more fertile.

The effort put into this will absolutely be repaid with abundant and delicious harvests. If low-maintenance, sustainable gardening is what you’re looking for, these raised beds are ideal for you. Plant your garden, sit back, and reap the rewards for years to come.

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hugelkultur bed | courtesy Port Angeles Community Gardens, www.PACommunityGardens.org

Photo courtesy Port Angeles Community Gardens

sylvia

3/5/2019 6:15:05 AM

yes, you can use pine but it will break down more quickly. It's also a bit acidic but some plants like that. I would mix some other woods with it as well. I used to burn wood/stumps/scraps every spring and fall, now they go towards my next hugel bed! I always have one that is uncovered through the summer so I can add downed branches or more logs to it, then cover it in the fall with leaves, then finally dirt. Having sides on it would definitely make less work!

DruidJo

3/4/2019 7:30:38 AM

I think I read about this type of gardening for the first time about 15 years ago....in MEN....go figure. I have a unique way of creating new raised beds based on this premise. I am getting older and want to have actual raised beds that I can sit on the edges to garden. I have my favorite tools that are perfect for rows 3 feet wide. I decided in 2008 to use some of the hundreds of concrete blocks I had inherited with this house to make my first raised bed. I use cardboard, paper, even carpet and old vinyl to kill the grass. I sat the blocks on the weed suppressant and let it come out about 8 inches and then covered that with mulch. Then when the bed was secured I realized how expensive it was going to be to fill it with dirt. I added another 2 rows of block and made the bed 3 blocks high. I start pulling brush and limbs from the brush pile of trees that the storms had gotten, or just some from trees we had felled for the wood. I had shavings from 4 rabbit cages when they were cleaned. I build up the bottom of the bed mostly with wood and straw and pine shavings filled with bunny poo. A couple of rains and it started to settle. I tossed in some more brush and grass clippings and cage waste all spring and then in June got 40 bags of top soil....and after the first 10 realized that it was forcing the brush to settle. I sat the soil off to one end and just continued with grass, and brush and cage waste all winter. I put brush down and some straw that I had used for straw bale gardening the year before and then put the 30 bags of soil I had left on the bed and went got 20 more with 8 2 cubic foot bags of MG garden soil and raked it out and planted my early spring crops. I was able to use some old pvc and wire with painters plastic to make low tunnels for across the bed rather easily. I used some left over metal corrugate from a barn roof to make another and we used the timbers from a house that didn't survive a fire for my third. I ended up with chickens and still have the rabbits and will be finishing my fourth this spring and starting yet another from concrete blocks. Anything we plant in them thrives. I do have to use the garden weasel to aerate the soil in the spring, but I don't till anything but the watermelon patch and the pumpkin patch. Me, MEN, and Miraclegro....a winning combination for over 25 years.

Tamidon

3/4/2019 4:48:51 AM

I just had 2 huge pine trees come down on my property. Is pine an OK wood to use ? It wasn't on either list

More Comments

www.EasyWoodwork.org

5/15/2018 9:58:47 PM

I used the plans at WWW.EASYWOODWORK.ORG to build my own – I highly recommend you visit that website and check their plans out too. They are detailed and super easy to read and understand unlike several others I found online. The amount of plans there is mind-boggling… there’s like 16,000 plans or something like that for tons of different projects. Definitely enough to keep me busy with projects for many more years to come haha Go to WWW.EASYWOODWORK.ORG if you want some additional plans :)

JOSEPHINEH

2/2/2018 1:19:41 PM

Hello, I started building my Hugelkultur bed last year by choosing an area where there were already some stumps. I added layers of cardboard to block the grass, then as the summer went on I kept adding grass clippings to hold the cardboard down. I've already put some logs on it, but I have difficulty because, well simply I'm a 60 year old woman with health issues and I have a hard time lifting and moving the logs. So my bed is not ready yet. I will probably have to hire a younger person to help me in the spring. Our last spring frost is Memorial day, so we'll have time before spring planting to work on it.

Oakiecreek

6/17/2016 9:16:31 AM

Hi James. We live in a flood zone in NC. There is a creek that runs thru the property that overflows whenever we get 3 or more inches of rain. If we clear out the trees and brush that's growing along the creek and create a barrier of Hugelkultur Raised Beds along the creek, do you think it will also help prevent the flooding issues we have? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Rattlerjake

6/17/2016 7:37:20 AM

I make a similar raised bed with wood chips that I get by free the truck load from a load tree service, makes a lot of beds and can be used as a mulch as well. Works extremely well, but the chips will break down faster than whole logs. It is much easier than moving whole sections of wood though.

miwin1000

4/28/2015 1:28:45 PM

The only tree logs I have are paradise trees...I'm afraid if I use these to build a raised bed, they'll start to grow!

NebraskaDave

4/27/2015 8:06:26 AM

James, welcome to the GRIT blogging community. Already, you have me interested in your posts. I read about Hugelkultur a couple years ago when clearing out a vacant lot with trees that had to be cut down. I didn't really give it a try yet but it's on the list to do some day in the future. The articles that I read were a little more labor intensive. They suggested digging a trench first then filling it with wood branches, paper, and cardboard. Then covering up the pile with the soil from the trench. They suggested to leave it lay dominant for one year for the nitrogen reason that you indicated, then plant away for the next 25 years. I like your method better. No digging trench. ***** Have a great Hugelkultur day.

JQofVA

4/16/2015 5:29:19 PM

What are the sticks on the ground for? Do you add more wood from time to time? Is it okay to put non-rotting wood on the bottom, with the rotting wood over it?

Jim

4/16/2015 11:47:12 AM

I would think something against the house may create an issue with drainage up under the house or even into a basement area without proper drainage under the mass. I could be wrong. I went of a farm tour here and the man was doing the same thing calling it permaculture. This is definitely a great way to do things, yet is also very long term and takes a lot of thinking about where to do this since once in place it will never be moved.

MJR

4/16/2015 8:41:53 AM

Has anyone built a hugel-berm up against a house's crawlspace wall?? in a cold, wet climate like Ohio?? it would seem to have, not only temperature moderating effect but also wind damage abatement potential, with a gravel path at the edge of the foot to keep stormwater controlled... what do you think would be needed to shape such an intriguing berm idea? I have to cut trees to mitigate falling-tree hazards in this lovely woodlands space around near the house... so the cost of this project would pay back over time, easily, right? ttys because we're eager to hear more about this reality of hugel-berming with its humanly favorable garden at the path edge!